Celsus Library

Perhaps the most photographed building in Ephesus, the Celsus Library was completed in the 2nd century C.E. It originally held a collection of some 12,000 scrolls, owned by the son of the Roman Senator Julius Celsus. The library was built in honor of his father, who is buried in the crypt beneath the building. The facade (the only portion of the building that stands today) collapsed in an earthquake, but was painstakingly restored from 1970 to 1978.